I say YES. YOU say NO....Numero Tre! Enjoy!
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Does the Loon have any mental faculties left, anywhere. Is this his idea of a scary, but reasonable threat. Weird what personal fear can do. Does me mean loyal enough, maybe?
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He is in fact, noted for something.
How many ways to spell hypocrites!
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Bent their minds so far out of shape they have lost reality and who knows what is next for sure.
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I don't think they can even pronounce the word, never-the-less understand the concept!
Love the New Years poem, Illinois!
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Can't come too soon. I hope this year is it !
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2023: The New Age of Hope2023 has just begun, but it is the first year since the 2016 election that brings a real sense of hope for justice and accountability.
There is hope on the horizon that we are beginning a new phase, one of collective turning away from the monopolistic grip billionaires have on the information we receive and instead focusing on information that benefits The People.
We see this in the toppling of scammers, the increasing, collective contempt of the narcissists we have been worshipping for far too long, the work of the January 6th Committee referral of the former president for four crimes, and the conclusion of the absurd battle for an ounce of transparency from Trump regarding the tax returns he lied about and hid, which perfectly reveal how the system benefits the wealthy at the expsense of the working class.
Have we had enough? Could 2023 be the year of Justice and Accountability?
We think it could. After all, 2022 was the year the much-hyped by billionaire-owned and highly-concentrated-in-the-hands-of-the-few media Red Wave was put down in the most brutally efficient way possible — by millions of you showing up to vote.
You don't own legacy media, you don't own social media - but you own your vote. And as of right now, even with Republicans seeking to take those votes away and to disenfranchises those who tend not to vote Republican, that vote is yours. It's the amazing power of The People in a democracy.
To protect this most sacred right, President Biden just days ago signed the Omnibus, in which Democrats attached the Trump-Coup-Stopper known as the Electoral Count Reform Act.
A Democrat just won the Arizona Attorney General office by a mere hundreds of votes, flipping it for first time since 2011. That race was just called days ago, putting the final chef's kiss cherry on the deceptive narrative of the Red Wave.
Had Democrats lost the races they were slated to lose in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Wisconsin, we would be in a very bad place right now. We would be ripe for the pickings of yet another pro-fascist, pro-democratic-backsliding takeover.
But we are not in that position.
Because You didn't listen to the media. You, the voters, somehow knew better than to be demoralized and disenfranchised.
The intuitive brilliance of this collective move offers so much hope for our future; hope that The People are turning away from media institution's that do not serve them. (There are plenty of excellent media institutions; this is not meant as an indictment of a specific media organization, but rather the Rightward ownership and monopolization that threaten democracy.)
Hope that The People see through the attempt to steal their votes. People who want to steal your votes do not have any plan to use power to help you. It's that simple.
For years, media that answers to the top 1% (and thus those who prefer not to pay taxes or be regulated) has been pushing their narratives upon The People. We can see the result of this perhaps more clearly in Britain, with its conservative, Tory-owned tabloids and media successfully distracting the public from the horrific economic results upon the masses of the 12-year Tory-led government. But this is happening here, in the United States, as well. It's just not quite as obvious because they run it through "mainstream" media organizations more than tabloids.
Conservatives (I'm using this word loosely as it's the self-chosen word of a group of far Right activists and reactors who actually bear little resemblance to the intellectual principles of conservatism) have known for decades that they need to takeover the media space, because The People must not be elevated in discourse on politics, lest "mob rule" win.
So for decades, oligarchs have bought media spaces and funded far Right, fascist-laundering media like Breitbart. Twitter is now owned by a far-Right activist who elevates neo-Nazis, violent misogynists, and arguably inciteful LGBTQ hate. Facebook went down the Right-wing path in 2016 and never came back. Legacy media is all owned by billionaires and old-money. The Era of the Bloviating Narcissist is Heavy Upon Us, as I explained in an earlier edition of this newsletter.
Who speaks for The People? If all media is owned by consolidated Power, who speaks truth to that same power and its agenda? We are, among a very few, but it's been very challenging as all access points are cut off by conservative-led closures and the failure of all politicians, including Democrats, to hold Silicon Valley accountable via Net Neutrality.
The New York Times did a dive into the very embarrassing takes (of which we at PoliticusUSA did not participate because Jason Easley knows how to read polls and spot ongoing outliers), in which they pointed to the fact that traditional pollsters conducted fewer polls, and into that void stepped "an onrush of partisan polls in key states that more readily suited the needs of the sprawling and voracious political content machine — one sustained by ratings and clicks, and famished for fresh data and compelling narratives."
"The skewed red-wave surveys polluted polling averages, which are relied upon by campaigns, donors, voters and the news media. It fed the home-team boosterism of an expanding array of right-wing media outlets — from Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast and "The Charlie Kirk Show" to Fox News and its top-rated prime-time lineup. And it spilled over into coverage by mainstream news organizations, including The Times, that amplified the alarms being sounded about potential Democratic doom."
The result of such gamesmanship has in the past been the demoralization of voters. But not this time. Yes, it did impact where resources were spent, and probably cost a few candidates the help they deserved. These are perilous times, but then democracy is always under assault by greed and power.
Through all of this and more, The People prevailed.
Additionally, there are suggestions that 2023 might be the year of long-awaited justice when it comes to the lieutenants and top terrorist-inciters of the January 6th terrorist attack on our country, though our Supreme Court is pedal-to-the-metal trying to overtake the other two branches of government to seize power for conservatives.
Trump's tax returns finally got released, and just in the nick of time. At the very least, they show the massive injustice of our current tax system, which benefits the wealthy and results in the middle class supporting the entire country, while the wealthy and big businesses make off scot-free with obscene profits and wealth.
Just look at Southwest Airlines' despicable treatment of passengers they stranded, including threatening to call the police on stranded passengers seeking to rebook a ticket canceled by Southwest. Their entire business model evinces what we have been up against for way too long in this country as we have rewarded the Donald Trumps and Elon Musks of the world while stiffing the workers. These types own most of the media in our country. As Elon is meme-infamous for suggesting, "Let that sink in."
We are way past due for a non-violent revolution of The People. And I believe that we have already seen the first glimmerings of that movement in the 2022 Midterms. The People are no longer buying trickle-down lies and union fear-mongering.
2023 has just begun, but it is the first year since the 2016 election that brings a real sense of hope for justice and accountability. The path won't be without strife and challenge, but the real fight for change has begun anew.
A note from Politicus for 1 Jan 2023 0 -
So true, Jackie! (I read that NYT piece about the DCCC's poll-panicked miscalculation and misallocation of campaign funds, spending money on the marquee contests and taking less telegenic ones for granted). We liberals are in a different era now than we were even a year ago: pragmatism is finally starting to spill over from us onto many progressives. An ultra-progressive friend of mine (who boycotts more entities than most people ever patronize) even said that a third-party candidate would be a lousy idea, because if they got a plurality but not 270 electoral votes, the election would be thrown to the House--which votes not member-by-member but aggregate state delegation-by-state delegation (all gerrymandered deep red), guaranteeing the Republican would win even if the House had a Democratic majority.
Camille, glad to hear you're on the mend. I had noro 9 years ago--and wouldn't recommend it as a weight loss method. A friend of mine said it best: "Ever feel so sick you were afraid you might die? Noro makes you feel so sick you're afraid you won't die."
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One does not need to fast for days and meditate for hours at a time to experience the sense of sublime mystery which constantly envelops us All one need do is to notice intelligently, if even for a brief moment, a blossoming tree, a forest flooded with autumn colors, an infant smiling.
Simon Greenberg
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This is amazing; these two pictures were taken only 66 years apart!
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My newest joy - reporting misleading job listings on Indeed and other job posting sites. If I know that a massage studio is inflating its wages with expected tips, I report the listing for misinformation.
Colorado Equal Pay Transparency Rules demand -Employers must include the following compensation and benefits information in each posting:
* The hourly rate or salary compensation (or a range thereof) that the employer in good faith believes it may pay for the particular job,
* A general description of any bonuses, commission, or other forms of compensation that are being offered for the role, and
* A general description of the other benefits that are being offered for the role.
The employer must list the hourly rate that "it may pay", not what it and the customer may pay together. If tips are anticipated, average tips can be included as an "other form of compensation", but may not be listed as the wage.0 -
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will work much better when all the misfits (especially on the rt.) are ushered out of government
for which they do nothing but make trouble.
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If the shoe fits and boy does it ever.
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This just in (from the front page of the NYTimes): Brazilian authorities are now proceeding with the case they filed in 2008 against George Santos for stealing a checkbook (and related fraud). The case was on hold for over 14 years...because they couldn't locate him...until now. Leading candidate for the Stupidest Criminal of the Year award (bumping the car-collecting pizza-eating sex-trafficking guy in Romania who trolled Greta Thunberg, only to have her deliver an epic clapback that caused him to tweet a photo of his whereabouts).
Sadly, he'll be sworn in later today--in response to demands he resign, the spineless House GQP cowards say "it's up to the justice system and the voters in his district." Apparently, even some Congressmen don't know that the "voters" can't do squat till 2024, because there is no such thing as a Federal "recall" election.
Or, more likely, they don't care--they just need a warm body with an "R" in front of its name as a rubber-stamp seat-filler. And McCarthy needs every vote he can get to become Speaker (Santos pledged his support). ALL 435 members, regardless of party, get to vote--and it's theoretically conceivable that with a long enough floor fight, a majority of thoxe actually physically present and voting (i.e., the entire Democratic delegation), and a splintered Republican caucus, if enough Rs defect we could end up with Speaker Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). Imagine a Democratic Speaker of a Republican-majority House. Unlikely, of course, because the R holdouts against McCarthy think he's not right-wing enough. But I csn dream...
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I am a child of God, created by God and created to express spiritual attributes. I share a divine heritage with everyone I meet, and this awareness creates an atmosphere of goodwill in which I can grow and learn and achieve. Because I am a child of God, living and learning in a world of great possibilities, there is always hope—hope for what I desire to accomplish and hope for what I believe I can and will do. So whatever it is that I set out to do, I do it with the understanding that I am God's child. I know that I fit in and feel right at home with the rest of God's family. -unattributed
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Entry and meme -- fantastic. I can dream too and I of course wish the Reps. all the agony in the world. The thought comes -- none so blind as those who just can't see. They seem to refuse to. I try to imagine dis -avowing intelligence and plain old common sense and just can't. I mean the rest of us fall over it, stumble into it, and open our eyes to it constantly but for the Reps. it just doesn't exist \. How can so many people ignore truth like that. Guess I will stay baffled. Then again -- when you choose to try and FORCE everyone into your mold. Sad,
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Of course, she thought she worked for a perfectly lovely person. Another soul seller.
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The House Republicans are providing that the inmates will be running the asylum.
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Jim Jordan for House Speaker? Can you imagine.
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